Intro to Endocrinology Flashcards
What are the three types of hormones?
peptide-protein
lipid
nonpeptide amino acid-based
True or false: hormones exert their effect only when they reach a high concentration.
false - work at very low concentrations
What are the three general types of effects hromones can have?
endocrine
paracrine
autocrine
What do free hormone need to bind to?
carrier proteins in the serum and free receptor to make a hormone-receptor complex (which does the actual signalling)
True or false: hormone-receptor binding is irreversible.
false - it’s reversible
but note that some of the drugs we use to counter this system are irreversible
Since there are only a limited number of receptors on a cell, the receptors are _____
saturable
Why can se way that hormones and receptors have varying levels of specificity?
because they may bind to multiple receptors with varying specificity and a given receptor may bind multiple hormones
the key is the varying specificity - the one with the highest specificity will get the strongest signal
What is the integrating controller of the endocrine system?
hypothalamus
What does the hypothalamus control?
pituitary gland, which then controls all the rest
What are the other endocrine glands?
pancreas, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenals, ovaries and testes
What part of the pituitary is a true endocrine gland and what is an extension of neural tissue?
anterior is the true endocirne gland of epithelial origin
the posterior is an extension of the neural tissue
What project into the posterior pituitary to trigger release of hormone?
hypothalamic neurons
What hormones are produced by those hypothalamic neurons in the posterior pituitary?
oxytocin and vasopressin
What is the advantage for this arrangement between the hypothalamus and posterior pituitary?
target cells see the stimulatory hormone very quickly - hugely important for both vasopressin and oxytocin
How is the axis arranged for the anteiror pituitary?
- hypothalamic nueonrs deposit hormones into the hypothalamo-hypophyseal portal system
- this system will bathe the pituitary cells in those hormones and hormones will bind appropriate receptors
- Ant pit cells will produce and release their hormone into general circulation
So is this slower or faster than with ht eposterior pit?
slower
Is most of the regulation of the hormone secretion negative or positive?
negative feedback
e.g., thyroid hormone curtails release of thyroid releasing hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone
Positive feedback is rare in this system, but what is an example?
snow ball effect from very high ovarian estrogen stimulating ovulation
What are the three groups of non-peptide amino acid derivatives?
thyroid hormones
catecholamines
tryptophan derivatives like melatonin
What are the two general lipid hormones
steroids and eicosanoids
In general how are protein/peptide hormones synthesized?
a preprohormone is synthesized and cleaved into prohormone in the RER
the prohormone goes to the golgi where further enzymatic cleavage occurs to produce th e mature hormone
it’s then packaged into secretory granules
In general, how are peptide hormones secreted?
upon apropriate signals, the secretory granules fuse with plasma membrane, releasing the hormone into the circulation
are protein hormones soluble in water?
yes